ICM biomass gasifier ready for commercial deployment

ICM has been involved in the renewable energy sector since 1995, largely within the ethanol industry. Since 2009, ICM has been testing a demonstration commercial-scale gasifier, and has reported the successful processing more than 7,000 tons of 13 different feedstocks including refuse-derived fuel (RDF) generated from municipal solid waste (MSW), tire-derived fuel mixed with RDF, wood chips, pine bark, wheat straw, corn stover, chicken litter, switchgrass, automobile shredded residue mixed with RDF, and other biomass/energy crops.

Tom Ranallo, ICM vice president of operations, said there are three system size options—a 5-megawatt (MW), 150-ton-per-day (TPD) system, a 10-MW, 300-TPD system and a 15-MW, 450-TPD system. “A lot of that [power produced and feedstock processing capability] is dependent on the feedstock specs and other things,” Ranallo said.

The company is currently engaged in several projects that will likely utilize the technology, according to Ranallo. “We’ve been working with several different developers for quite some time, and these projects are in various stages of development,” he said. “We’re getting close with a couple of them in securing our first orders, right now they’re just working on financing, securing feedstock and other details.”